Bùi Thanh Sơn (born 16 October 1962) is a Vietnamese politician who is currently the
Minister of Foreign Affairs
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam since 2021.
Early life and education
Bùi was born on 1962 in
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
. He graduated from Ngo Quyen High School in
Haiphong. Afterwards, he attended and graduated in 1984 from the
Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam The Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (also referred to as DAV, vi, Học viện Ngoại giao Việt Nam), is a public research university located in Hanoi, Vietnam and an administrative unit under management of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam ...
. In 1993, he graduated with masters in
International Relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...
from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.
Diplomatic and political career
He joined the
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North ...
in 1986 and from September 1987, he started working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a research officer at the Institute of International Relations of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After that, he was respectively appointed to the positions of Deputy Head, then Head of the Europe - America Department at the Office of Academy of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
From March 1996 to January 2000, he served as the deputy director of the Institute of International Relations and from March 2000 to July 2003, he worked at the Embassy of Vietnam in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
as counselor at the mission. Bui served as deputy director and then Director of Foreign Policy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from September 2008 to August 2009.
Bui served as the assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and director of the Foreign Policy Department from September 2008 to November 2009. He also concurrently served as the head of the negotiating team for the Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Vietnam and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
until June 2012.
In November 2009, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs by
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Nguyen Tan Dung
Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname.
By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...
and from November 2010, he concurrently served as a member of the National Committee on Youth in Vietnam. From September 2011 to 2015, he concurrently served as a member of the Central Theoretical Council.
Bui was re-appointed as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in February 2015 and from March 2015, he was assigned to be a member and Secretary General of the Inter-sectoral Steering Committee for International Integration in Politics, Security and Defense. In January 2016 at the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, he was elected to the
12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam The 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam was elected at the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in January 2016. The 12th Central Committee elected the 12th Politburo and the 12th Secretariat.
Plenums
The ...
.
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In May 2016, he was first introduced by the central government to be a candidate for the 14th National Assembly. He was a member of the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the executive committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Executive of the Party Committee of Central Agencies, Member of the Party Personnel Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. On the same month, he was first elected as a member of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
in 2016 from constituency no. 2 at
Đắk Nông Province, with 140,073 votes. During this time, he held the following positions: Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Party Committee and Standing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In April 2020, he was re-appointed to the position of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs with period starting from 10 February 2020. This was the third time he has been appointed by the Prime Minister. On 30 January 2021, at the 13th
National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam is organized according to the Leninist
Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by ...
, he was elected as an official member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam for 13th term.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
On 8 April 2021, he was elected Minister of Foreign Affairs by the XIV National Assembly of Vietnam at the proposal of Prime Minister
Pham Minh Chinh.
On 6 July 2022, he met with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov in Hanoi. Lavrov called Vietnam a "key partner" of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
in
ASEAN
ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...
.
Personal life
Bui is married and has a son.
Awards and honors
*:
**
Labor Order
The Labor Order ( vi, Huân chương lao động) is an award conferred or posthumously conferred by the Government of Vietnam on individuals and conferred on collectives that have recorded outstanding achievements in labor, creativity or natio ...
(2011)
**Certificate of Merit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2005)
**Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister, twice (2009, 2011)
*:
**
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Isala Order (2014)
See also
*
List of foreign ministers in 2022
This is a list of foreign ministers in 2022.
Africa
* – Ramtane Lamamra (2021–present)
* – Tete António (2020–present)
* – Aurélien Agbénonci (2016–present)
* – Lemogang Kwape (2020–present)
* –
#*Rosine Sori-Coulibaly ( ...
*
List of current foreign ministers
References
External links
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bui, Thanh Son
1962 births
Living people
People from Hanoi
Government ministers of Vietnam
Foreign ministers of Vietnam
Members of the National Assembly (Vietnam)
Columbia University alumni
Members of the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam
Members of the 13th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam